Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Milton School

Submitted by
Andrea Allison
at
11:05 PM

The Milton School was built in 1904 as a four room schoolhouse, teaching kindergarten through eighth grades. One of it's well known students was Robert Waldow (The Alton Giant). In 1925, six classrooms and a cafeteria were added, twelve more classrooms were added in 1935, and finally, in 1937, the gym was completed.

It's doors remained open for 80 years until closing in 1984. The school remained vacant until Gary Levi purchased it for his company Intaglio Design, a company that manufactured items of decorative glass, seven years later. A warehouse was added in 1993, covering the old courtyard and playground. When Intaglio shut down, the school again sat vacant, and deteriorated. Portions of the school was rented out to various people including Piano World and a martial arts academy. It even hosted a "haunted house". Fake blood on walls, wax, and black light paint is all that remains now.

Milton School is believed to be rather haunted. However, there's not much documentation to validate many of the stories attached to the property which include the rape/murder of a young girl named Mary and the alleged suicide of a former janitor (and possibly Mary's murderer).

Supposedly, everyone had left for the day except for one young girl (who would later be named Mary). The girl stayed behind to finish a seasonal bulletin board for her classroom. As it began to get dark, she gathered her things and headed for the gymnasium. All was well until she heard a suspicious noise. The next day, Mary's body was found in girls' shower room bloody and battered, her clothing torn and scattered about and brutally raped. No killer was ever convicted but there was a suspect.

Allegedly, police believed a janitor at the school raped and murdered her. Mary had managed to scratched her assailant. Everyone was on the lookout for someone with fresh new scratches. Several days later, some noticed a janitor hadn't been to work. Cops went to his home to ask him a few question. That's when they noticed scratch marks on both of his hands. His excuse? The cat did it. His elderly mother claimed he was at home with the flu on the day of the murder, but the police weren't buying it. He shot up to the top of the suspect list. However, there wasn't enough evidence to arrest him. The cops kept him under constant surveillance until one day he was found in the boiler room of the school hanging from a rope around an exposed beam. He confessed to his crime in his suicide note.....that is if he actually committed suicide. Some believe his death was staged. However, there's no newspaper articles or any other documentation to prove either person died in the school. The earliest records date back to 1940. We may never know if there is any truth to the death of "Mary" and her alleged janitor murderer.

During the years when the school was still open, many students relayed strange encounters in the building, including unexplained sounds, strange shadows and encounters with "Mary". Employees of Intaglio Design heard footsteps in the dark hallways at night when no one else was there, items began to appear and disappear around the offices and one of the staff members spotted the apparition of a small girl. This spirit is believed to be rather friendly to visitors. Some have had experiences of an unseen child holding their hand.

Visitors and former staff believe she may not be alone. Could the ghost of the janitor also be haunting the school? While "Mary" may be sweet as sugar, the janitor is anything but. There are reports of an unsettling presence that could cause people to become short of breath and feel a panicked sensation. On many occasions, glass items that were left near the shower stall where Mary's body was allegedly discovered were reportedly found to be shattered into pieces. Other reports include cigar smoke and bubblegum smells, shadows (adult and children size), hair being pulled, touching, footsteps and doors opening and closing on their own.

2
comments:

Ghost Hunters got some strange noises there. They couldn't find any information about the murder/suicide either but also noted that the records only went back to 1940 and this could have happened before that time. Creepy school...

You think there's just mary and her killer the janitor haunting that school on milton road well your wrong there's a 3rd resistance staying there and haunting people when they enter the boiler room. People who have went down there like I have can tell you he's a very violent person. But sadly no one knows who he is and how he came to haunt the school its still a mistory